Joe Tait fully behind Jordan Burrow as York City captain

Tait had worn the armband under City boss Sam Collins until his red card against Bradford Park Avenue led to a three-match suspension.

In his absence, top-scorer Burrow donned the armband and continued to lead the team out when Tait returned to the starting line-up for last weekend’s 3-1 FA Trophy triumph at Kidderminster.

Burrow bagged a brace in that contest to take his season’s tally to eight and with Collins having a flexible approach to which player tosses the coin, depending on what he thinks will best benefit the individual and the team, Tait agrees with his manager that the former Gateshead striker is currently a good choice for the role.

“Having the armband honestly doesn’t bother me,” Tait declared. “Jordan led by example with his two goals against Kidderminster and worked his socks off.

“Having the captaincy doesn’t have any impact on how I go about my business on the field. I always organise and like to think I lead whether I have the armband or not and, if Jordan keeps playing like he did last weekend, I’ll buy him another one, so he can wear two.”

Tait was fined by Collins after striking out at Bradford Park Avenue striker Jake Beesley in an incident that left his team down to ten men after 25 minutes with the latter going on to open the scoring in the table-toppers’ 4-1 win from the resulting penalty.

The 6ft 1in defender’s subsequent ban started with City’s FA Cup trip to Swindon, denying the Middlesbrough-born 28-year-old a third competitive contest against Football League opposition, having been a 90th-minute sub for Gateshead against Oxford in 2013 and scored in a 3-2 defeat at MK Dons for Spennymoor last season.

Insisting he will never act “so stupid” in a City shirt again, Tait added: “You always want to play in the big games and the FA Cup has a magical tradition.

“I thought we gave a good account of ourselves and it would have been very nice to play in the game, but I had to take my medicine. I’m an experienced enough player to know I can’t react in the way I did against Bradford.

“It was more instinct really and, before I knew what I had done, I’d done it and it let the lads down. I actually thought it was the best we’d played for the first 20 minutes of the game, so it absolutely killed us, and I take full responsibility for the result.

“I was wearing the armband and I’ve got to be better than that and, now, repay the faith the manager has shown in me. I was fined and that’s part and parcel of football.

“If you’re happy taking the plaudits when things are going well, you have to take the punishments too. People’s livelihoods are on the line and I can’t be making mistakes like the one I did.

“It was out of character but, even though it’s not brilliant with Christmas around the corner, I took the fine on the chin, and I’m a better player than doing something so stupid. Getting fined is the way you learn, and I certainly won’t be doing it again.

“It was an absolute nightmare being out suspended for three games. You feel isolated, because you can’t help the lads and can only do so much on the training pitch, so I was glad to play in the reserve game before Kidderminster and it was fantastic to be out there with the lads again, trying to add some value to the team.”

During Tait’s enforced lay-off, however, loan recruits Joe Davis and Kennedy Digie have enhanced Collins’ central-defensive options.

Digie was not given permission to play against his parent club last weekend but will be available this weekend against FC United of Manchester, meaning Tait faces a fight to keep his starting shirt.

On that situation, Tait reasoned: “Two good lads have come in and competition should bring out the best in people. I know it will do in me.”

Having crossed swords with another new loan signing Joe Ironside in the past – both for City and Spennymoor – Tait reckons the team’s attacking potency has been heightened too.

“He’s a real handful and, once he gets a run of games, we will start reaping the rewards of having him on loan,” the former Hartlepool reserve said. “His finishing is second-to-none and we’ve got good competition at that other end of the field with Macca (Macaulay Langstaff), Wrighty (Jake Wright), Jordan and Joe, so that can only benefit us.”

While recognising talk is cheap, Tait went on to drum home the importance of 17th-placed City stringing together a strong run of results to prove the Kidderminster performance was not just the latest in a long line of false dawns for a club who beat champions Salford twice last season but ended the campaign 11th.

Ahead of back-to-back home matches against FC United and Leamington - both clubs who the Minstermen failed to beat last term - Tait admitted: “They’re absolutely massive games.

“It seems like we are repeating ourselves and I remember saying after the Ashton game in August that we had to use that game as a springboard, but we’ve got to back Saturday up with wins and start looking at the other end of the table. We started the game really well at Kidderminster and the energy was there for everyone to see.

“It was a result that proved we can match up and compete with the best in the division and we’ve got to start showing people we’re a good team by taking that into the league, because performances haven’t been great, and results haven’t been fantastic either. We’ve got a really good dressing room, but that talk has to stop now.

“We’re a tight-knit group and we’ve got to start showing our capabilities to make this football club’s supporters proud to follow us. We are all proud to represent it, but also know, if we don’t put in performances week in, week out and get good results, we’ll get some stick, because the football club shouldn’t be where it is.”

Having been part of a Spennymoor side that lost 2-1 to Bromley in an FA Trophy quarter-final replay last season, Tait would also welcome another run in that competition.

“That’s the nearest I’ve ever got to playing at Wembley and I know the club have got a history for doing well in the competition, so why not again?” he ventured.

“Good cup runs help you get a winning habit that you can take into the league, but there’s obviously a long way to go in the tournament and, whilst I would love a Wembley run-out, we just want to string some good results together.”